


eventually

by egare



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Comedy, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Starts season 1, The Shrine to Sasha James that you Pray to in Order to Get out of Artefact Storage, did i take surviving statement givers and make them coworkers in Artefact Storage? yes., you can pry this found family from my cold dead hands
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:16:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24393403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/egare/pseuds/egare
Summary: Five 'practical researchers' stared at a set of utensils that was sent to them from Research.With little hesitation Joshua decided, “Not it.”
Comments: 9
Kudos: 65





	1. The Cannibal's Fork (Part I)

Five practical researchers stared at a set of utensils. The entire set had been put in a plastic bag, and Nicole commented that the people over in Research should have known better than that— what was a Ziploc to do? At his own desk, David had gotten to work at beginning the process of cataloguing the item. A set of a metal fork, metal spoon, and metal knife, seeming to be unused and held in a coffin-shaped green bag who came to them with the zipper undone. The bottom of the bag was a darker shade and detailed to look like grass and, altogether, it was an unassuming, reusable set of utensils.

With little hesitation Joshua announced, “Not it.”

The other four cursed and shouted their own repetitions of the statement. Deborah knew the minute she had started hers and the other three were halfway through their proclamations that she would be stuck with it; she groaned, lightly slapping Joshua’s arm in retaliation.

“Come on! I did the entire musical collection of Bach last week!” She complained, looking to Nicole who had only dealt with a snake that made a very human-like attempt at hissing noises. She shrugged, mentioning something about how they had to deal with her speaking German and so really, the whole thing cancelled itself out if you considered it. Deborah whined and looked to the two remaining coworkers, hopeful.

“Jan? David?”

The other woman gave a tight-lipped smile and shook her head, trying to appear apologetic. “Sorry, Deborah. Those are the rules.”

And when Deborah turned to look at David he refused to look at her, looking a bit pale. With a sigh she made sure to remind them all, “I hate working here.”

“Any bets?” asked Nicole, standing from her chair and moving to get her coat, “I guess cannibalism.”

“Self-cannibalism.” Jan added, hopping off her own desk and joining Nicole in her departure from the office. David seemed torn for a moment, unsure of which group to stay with, before ultimately leaving with Jan and Nicole with only a word to Joshua as he handed over the proper forms. Joshua rolled his eyes and remained where he was, giving them all a wave goodbye as they shut and locked the door behind them. Only he and Deborah remained, the bag of utensils on the desk in between them.

The workers of Artefact Storage were, officially, called practical researchers. Behind their backs they had heard people refer to them as “test dummies”, “fools”, and “poor souls”. Those who were religious either claimed that the workers had somehow angered God, or they were simply due for Heaven and needed to be expedited there. Where the employees of the Archives were ignored for the oddities that had no explanations— Deborah knew that they all willfully committed crimes for the Magnus Institute, not to mention the occasional screams and the director’s infatuation with the entire branch— the employees of Artefact Storage were avoided for the simple fact that any interaction with them, even the simple act of them knowing your name, put you at risk of death by unknown artefact. Others heard rumors of what was done in Storage and assumed them mad to remain, but they each had their reasonings. 

Joshua Gillespie, ever the pragmatic, would simply shrug when questioned and say that he “didn’t trust these with anyone else”. Deborah Madaki was rather open about the fact that she had had an encounter with the supernatural during an art class, and that she was too interested to let it go; her statement was likely somewhere in the Archives. Nicole Baxter had once worked with some funeral directors and had a “particularly nasty case”, and she had decided that that wasn’t the career path for her. When asked why that had turned her to the Institute she responded, “Well, I didn’t expect academia to be so intense.” Jan Novak had been working part-time to simply get herself through college, and after her graduation a few months ago she was officially a full-time employee of the Magnus Institute. 

And then came David Laylow, who was nearing his six-month mark as an employee in Storage. He was timid at first, dull-eyed as he worked, and it wasn’t until Deborah had truly begun to dedicate herself to bringing him out of his shell that he spoke to them. He never mentioned what had brought him to the Magnus Institute, though it was obvious that something had. But the employees of Artefact Storage did not throw themselves in harm’s way on a day-to-day basis for the purpose of learning about each other’s traumas, and so they let him be, never bringing up the topic again. They were left alone most of the time, any interaction with the rest of the Institute either being receiving something from Research or complaining that they deserved a raise after a particularly dangerous artefact.

There had been an agreement laid out on how the group would research and process artefacts when it had been Joshua, Nicole, Deborah, and a few now deceased or quit coworkers. It mostly included a number of sticks being offered to those who did not have an artefact to work on, and whoever drew the shortest would be given the next one. From there was a process to follow regarding the proper place and procedures of testing, which mostly included “if it’s dangerous to the area around you it better not be tested in the Institute” and “if you cannot get a coworker to take notes on the artefact and you are unable to, at the very least make a recording of it”. A majority of the artefacts that landed on their desks were relatively safe to everything except the people who interacted or were near it, so most testing was done by simply locking the office that belonged to Artefact Storage and seeing what happened when you touched it. Often times Joshua offered to stay with the researcher and take notes, the most practical of the five of them; he also often reminded them all in no uncertain terms that he would not put himself at risk to save others. To anyone else, that seemed selfish, but to the researchers of Artefact Storage it was simply a common fact— half of these items were unable to be stopped once started, and it would be foolish for any of them to assume that they had the power to stop anything. And so it was an agreed upon decision that if a researcher was caught by an artefact that could be fatal, the others would do anything they could to help while still remaining safe themselves. Nicole assured David, when he looked terrified at the admittance, that none of them threw each other into danger and that most of the times they were able to get researchers safe, while staying within the lines of their own safety procedures.

Joshua had the highest save count, even if it was simply considered as a ratio per year rather than his entire time at the Institute. He had a level of practicality that consisted of “if you ignore it it will go away” and “you can’t be afraid if you’re unconscious”. That was why, when Joshua officially reached a decade in Storage, the four of them had added his picture to the shrine dedicated to Sasha James. If they were not lucky enough to get out of here like she was, then at the very least they could pray to be saved by Joshua and survive as long as he has.

“Are you okay?” Deborah had been brought out of her daze by Joshua’s question and she looked to him, surprised to see concern. Though he was quick to tell everyone he would leave them to die in a heartbeat, he also seemed to have enough care to make sure they didn’t die alone. Not that Deborah was going to die, she assured herself. It was just… standard procedure to wonder if the next artefact you were charged with would be your last. She gave a nod in response, not sure if she trusted herself to speak, and Joshua continued. “I can help you set up, if you’d like.”

The desk was cleared in front of her and Joshua began the process of tying her wrists to her bolted-down chair (bolted down during a previous investigation with a Rubik’s cube that inverted gravity), giving her enough rope to still move and be able to reach around ten feet in front of her. Her legs were tied as well, and when Joshua stood at the other side of the office to evaluate his work he considered it sufficient enough to proceed. He didn’t look away as he set down the salad he had made for lunch in front of her— briefly lamenting the loss of his meal but finding comfort in the fact that it was lost for science.

Deborah cleared her throat one last time, and reached for the fork.


	2. The Cannibal's Fork (Part II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A conclusion, and a delivery.

“Have I said how sorry I am.”

“You’ve said so multiple times, yes.” Joshua winced as Jan disinfected his forearm, and she muttered an apology of her own, continuing on with her work in cleaning his wound. They had been doing this since they had contained the artefact— Deborah would apologize and Joshua would assure her that it was alright, that he knew that she hadn’t meant to slice off a chunk of his skin and eat it; Jan would apologize and Joshua would assure her that it was fine, that he knew she wasn't intentionally trying to hurt him with her medical aid. On the contrary, she had proven herself to know anatomy and the human body rather extensively, and had been dubbed the unofficial doctor should any of them be injured.  
  
The whole affair had taken no more than three minutes, Deborah saying that nothing seemed different and asking to be let out before attacking when Joshua entered her five foot radius. She had pulled an arm free and slashed at his eye, nearly getting to it before he had been able to take the fork away, repeating to himself that he already had a lunch and it was sitting on the desk right in front of him, and that he didn't need to eat anything else, particularly not Deborah. He was able to put the utensil back with the rest of its set with only a slight struggle, Deborah sweating from where she was tied down in the chair, a perfect, practically immobilized meal. After a bit of time to cool off, they had repeated the exercise with the spoon and the knife, each wielding similar results. It had been the knife that had taken out a large chunk of Joshua’s forearm, and in return Deborah was given a bruise on her brow that was quickly turning purple.

Jan wrapped up the wound and put the first aid kit back in order, tossing it over to David who put it away properly by the office door. Nicole held an official Storage bag that contained the utensil set, now clearly labelled with a caution sign that urged anyone that saw it to not handle without prior approval; she looked at the artefact curiously, holding it up to the light as if it might reveal more to her than their testing had.

“So this is angry and stabby subsection people eater, yeah?” she questioned, almost unconcerned with the fact that the artefact had injured two of her coworkers.

“Hostile subsection cannibalism, yes.” Joshua amended, delicate. “It didn’t just make us angry, exactly, it made us... hungry?”

Deborah remained silent in her consideration of his correction, taking another bite of her lunch— a burger from down the road that took care of her leftover… desire for meat— and finishing it up before she responded in agreement. “Seems about right.”

Nicole accepted the answer with a nod, “I’ll find a place for it and let you both know. Reports done by tomorrow morning?”

“At the latest.” confirmed Joshua, watching as she nodded one last time and headed off toward Storage with the bag in hand. Deborah was shifting in her seat, and he could see the way she wanted to apologize once again; before she was able to get a word out he spoke, louder than necessary but drowning out any possible repetition of guilt,

“Why don’t you go home for the day?”

“It’s not even three o’ clock.” Her defense was automatic, never one to leave early in the belief that it made her seem like a slacker; after a beat of silence where Joshua gave her a look of disbelief, Deborah sighed and nodded. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll just finish up my report and be on my way.”

He remained quiet as she sat back down at her desk and got to work finishing up the report of her personal experience with the artefact, starting to work on his own report himself. Unless research injured or scarred them to the point that they were unable to record their observations directly after experimentation was complete, the researchers of Artefact Storage typically finished up and stored whatever artefact they were working on by the end of the day; it would do more harm to have to face an artefact two days in a row, rather than add an hour of overtime and have it be put away to be forgotten.

(It had been in Joshua’s second year here that he learned the head of the Institute did not know what overtime was; he and his coworkers at the time spent two hours trying to explain the concept to him. Afterward, Natalie Gilbert joked that their boss was secretly from the past, and that’s why he didn’t know basic labour laws.

Natalie Gilbert died a week later. She had been researching a stone given to Artefact Storage that had possessed her with the desire to stone her little sister to death, reenacting her own Cain and Abel; she had been stopped by her older brother, shot to death in defense of his youngest sister. The following days were spent wondering if her older brother having killed her was due to an influence by the stone, or if it was simply human behavior; three Bibles and two bottles of wine helped the researchers determine it inconclusive and unable to be safely retested.)

Deborah left around half an hour later, putting her report on Joshua’s desk for him to file away with his own she he was done. In the silence, and being hidden behind stacks of files and paper, the room seemed empty; at least, Nicole had thought as much as she returned, startling at the unexpected greeting from an unseen Joshua. He raised his hand from the stack and she made her way to him. His lazy smile turned brighter as he caught sight of a second arrival alongside Nicole. “Rosie, hi!” 

“J-Joshua!”

Nicole was amused as she looked between Joshua— slightly flushed, usually not one to back down and yet not making eye contact— and Rosie— stammering, ears red— but she said nothing about it, instead clearing her throat and getting on with what she had come for. “Delivery, Rosie wanted to know if you wanted it dropped off here or in Storage, but didn’t want to come up in here alone.”  
  
Rosie seemed insulted, "It's common knowledge you don't enter here without a practical researcher!"  
  
"Oh, a 'practical researcher'? Is that what they're calling us this week?"

Joshua stood from his desk and interrupted the two before they could devolve into petty banter; he addressed Rosie, surprised, “A delivery? From someone with a statement?”

“No, nothing like— well, I suppose it could be from a statement, but— it’s some sort of table? But I don’t know if the deliverymen meant it was an artefact or if it was just, you know, a table for your office.” She shifted on her feet, realizing she probably should have found out which it was before coming over here. “Figured I should ask where you wanted it, I know you do testing here and the table looks a bit… heavy.”

“Thank you, Rosie.” He turned to Nicole, who had an impatient look on her face as she looked between the two of them; as adorable as it was to watch them stutter their way through a conversation, there were two people waiting on their answer. “Have them bring it here, if you could.”

“No problem.”

The two left without another word to go collect the delivery, giving Joshua time to finish up his report. He set it to the side and placed a bright orange note on it to remind himself to shelf it before he left for the night. Poking his head into the Storage proper, he raised an eyebrow at the sight of David and Jan playing an intense game of checkers with a chess board and its associated pieces.

“You know your head gets cut off if you lose your king, right?” He asked as a greeting, startling David. Jan didn’t seem concerned, capturing a rook.

“That’s why we’re playing checkers. No king in checkers.”

“Help me clear room for a delivery?” The two cleaned up their game and reslotted the artefact where it belonged, following Joshua to the offices and getting to work on moving some of their own desks to make space for the table. They began spitballing ideas of what the table could be; David hoped it was just a normal table— his was a bit rickety after the accident with an obnoxiously large toy termite artefact that got to it before they were able stop the thing— while Jan suggested that it might be something to help an author with writer’s block, forcing them to write until they either finish their story or die.

Joshua pointed out that that was a rather specific hypothesis, and Jan shrugged, brushing off his suspicion. “It’s a useful idea.”

“Have you taken up writing, Jan?” David asked, more curious than suspicious. She grinned,

“There’s been an increase in statements to the Archives, lately.”

Neither Joshua nor David had time to lecture her on the need for genuineness in supernatural academia as the sound of something hitting against a wall alerted the three of them of Nicole’s return with the deliverymen. Familiar Cockney accents voiced their apologies, commenting on how thin the hallways were.

Joshua’s blood ran cold. 

~~_The door slammed behind them, and I was left alone with this package._ ~~

Nicole had pushed the office doors wide enough to let in the two men and their delivery. He could feel a… not a tension, exactly, but a palpable something in the air as one of them caught sight of him; the other seemed to know the moment the first did, turning around and looking right at Joshua.

“Huh.”

“Surprised to see you here.”

“Didn’t think It’d just let you go.”  
  
~~_I wasn’t surprised to see them, as I say, but they actually seemed quite surprised to see me. John had to take a second to look me up and down, almost in disbelief._~~

All of them were expecting him to speak, he knew that much. He could feel Jan’s curiosity from where she sat at her desk, a Rubik’s cube in her hand; David’s worry lay heavy on Joshua’s own shoulders, twisting something in his gut. But nevertheless he turned to the two deliverymen, a tight smile on his face, as he tried to not let it show how startled he was at not only their arrival, but at the fact that they looked exactly the same from nearly twenty years ago. They were larger men in both size and height (taller than even Jan, who regularly towered over the rest of the researchers) but they looked entirely… average. Were it not for their rather obnoxious accents, they seemed like they would have fit right in anywhere in the country. He turned his gaze away briefly to look at the large box they were holding, gesturing behind him to the area they had cleared for it.

“R-Right. Uh.” Joshua couldn’t find the proper words. He was thankful to be able to find any words at all. “If you could— there.”

“Course.” He couldn’t tell which of the duo had said it, both of them unconcerned as they walked past him and set the box down. He took a moment to collect himself as he headed back to his own desk, picking up a pen and straightening his posture to seem slightly more put together. It was a surprise to see them turn away from him, one looking to Deborah, the other to Jan.

“It’s for a Jan Novak.”

“Oh? Right here.” She seemed just as surprised as Joshua was, gesturing to identify herself and letting one of them head to her; she didn’t seem to register that she should have stood from her desk and gone to him herself. The deliveryman handed her a pen to sign for the delivery and she did so, a quick scrawl on the dotted line that made Joshua wonder if he should have intervened, as someone who was her superior in both experience and age. He wondered if anyone would have intervened when he had signed for the coffin.

There were no last remarks or supernatural occurrences as the two left, leaving the four researchers on their own. David and Nicole were sharing a look, but Joshua couldn’t bring himself to comment on it; he simply leaned against his desk and stared at the box they had received, preparing himself to face it. With a soft expression on her face Nicole came up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“We can take care of this one, Josh. Go home, get some rest.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mag002 is my favorite statement, y'all, you don't understand the love I have for Joshua Gillespie


	3. Worms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gossip, a lightswitch, and a fire alarm.

“And so we just put it in the Hypnotism secti—“ The office door opened loudly, startling most of the occupants— that is, every employee of Artefact Storage except the one that was entering late herself. Nicole paused from her debrief with Joshua to watch as Deborah strutted across the office, a holder of different drinks in one hand and her own coffee in the other. Her glasses were bright pink and likely covering dark circles beneath her eyes; she spoke as she went to each desk one by one, dropping off a drink and ignoring what conversations she might have interrupted.

“I saw an Archives employee making tea at eleven o’ clock last night. I think he might be living here.” She spoke with a tone that suggested she was admitting to witnessing a scandal, rather than just seeing someone after hours in the Institute. It wasn’t… that uncommon, Nicole thought to herself. Everyone had to stay overtime at some point in their career here.

“No, Mr. Sims is just like that.” Joshua didn’t look up from where he was reviewing the report on the table that had been delivered, and Nicole snorted at the way he brushed Deborah’s gossip off. Deborah shook her head, handing a tea to Jan; she looked at it curiously, as if uncertain if she should drink it or not. She opted to trust her coworker, taking a sip.  
“It wasn’t the Head Archivist, it was one of the other ones. Tall, looks cuddly. He was walking around in his pajamas, slippers and all.”

“Sorry, what?” David looked up from where he was working over a statement given from Research, the artefact in question— a lightswitch— beside his papers. She placed something that looked mostly caramel beside the switch. “Is that… allowed? Just, wearing pajamas in the Institute?”

Deborah shrugged, setting her own drink on her desk and taking a moment to drop off her other things as well. “I don’t think it is.”

“Pretty sure the Archives can do whatever they want.” Joshua countered, flipping a page, “Have you seen them follow dress code once?”

The other researchers nodded along before Nicole paused, confusion passing over her face as she was handed a plain black coffee, “Wait, why were you here so late last night, Deb?”

“Well, I had put my lunch in the Library’s fridge on Tuesday and Tom,” she spat out his name in disgust, “apparently thinking he has free reign on all the food in there, ate it before I had the chance.”

When she didn’t seem like she was going to be adding anymore details the researchers looked between each other until their gazes ultimately landed on David, urging him to get more information out of her. He stammered for a bit, unsure what to say, “And- And that brought you to the Institute at eleven o’ clock at night? Why…?” 

“I bribed the janitors to let me put a thawing catfish in his desk drawer.” 

“And that made you late today why…?” There was no anger behind Joshua’s voice— if anything, he was almost a bit jealous at the audacity of it all— but as her senior in the workplace he felt that he had to ask nonetheless.

“Slept in, figured I was already late by the time I woke up, thought a coffee run might make you judge me less.” And as his senior by age, she didn’t feel particularly chastised, “Obviously, it didn’t work, so no coffee for you.”

“Hey, no judgement here.” He was rewarded with the last coffee, the holder dropped into the trash can beside his desk. She returned to her own seat, looking over the sticky note and multiple pages left by— ugh, Richard. He always had the most unnecessarily thorough notes. Did it really take five paragraphs to describe the color of a doorknob? 

The group worked in comfortable silence for quite a while, only interrupted by a groan that accompanied a stretch, the odd cracking of Jan’s neck whenever she sat still for too long, or the occasional squeak of David’s chair. Even lunches were a quiet affair, those who had brought their own exiting quietly to the break room, Jan heading out in silence to pick up her regular from a stand down the street. It wasn’t until hours later that Nicole sighed, loud enough to get everyone’s attention and make them pause in their work.

“Well I’m positively bored.”

“Was anything fun sent in today?” Deborah asked as an attempt to cure the boredom that all of them seemed to be facing, looking around on everyone’s desk as she questioned the group. Jan didn’t have anything on hers, but a slip of orange paper revealed that it was simply too large to put on a surface; on Joshua’s desk lay a sword, broken into two pieces. Nicole’s was empty save for the usual clutter, likely finishing up some notes about some recent storage addition. At her question Jan brightened, ignoring her own artefact in favor of pointing out David’s—

“Davey’s got a lightswitch.”

— and making Joshua grumble beneath his breath.

“I mean, Joshua specifically told us to not flick any switches or push any buttons without thorough research, right?” David asked, looking suspiciously at the lightswitch; Joshua nodded before pausing in his work and looking up, not liking where this was going.

“I’ll give you five quid.” Jan had pulled up her chair to be across from David and was sitting on the other side of the desk, staring intently at the switch. She looked up, a grin accompanying the look she gave David; he squirmed beneath the peer pressure.

“What if this one switch is the thing that starts the whole apocalypse?” He countered, and she raised it to seven. David offered her ten if she did it herself, and Nicole cackled from her own desk, ready to see what would happen. Before Joshua could get out a complaint, really, this was all entirely against procedure— Jan flicked the switch. 

This line of work quite often had Joshua contemplating his morality. He wondered what it would have been like if he had continued in architecture; he remembered the first building that he had planned and the fact that it, irregardless of the proper calculations and construction, had collapsed at maximum capacity, Burying those inside it. It had almost seemed like... a show of affection, none of them dying but the fear of being trapped for hours before rescue sufficient enough to keep It content while keeping Joshua grateful that his career was not tarnished with a death count. No, he had no future, and did not see himself sticking anywhere that involved people until he had remembered the Magnus Institute. As he had entered, the heaviness that had once been trying to weigh him down had been replaced with something less overbearing, but more scrutinizing. It did not take him long after he got hired to learn that Artefact Storage was meant to be a death sentence, and he had had more than a decade to come to terms with that fact. One of these days, he was to be killed by something they were researching, and that was to be it. He just... didn't particularly wish for 'one of these days' to be, well, today. He shut his eyes, prepared for the inevitability of his own demise at the hand of a single curious researcher—

But there was nothing.

A moment later, the fire alarm began to ring throughout the building; Joshua cracked an eye open, counting the people in the room and making sure everyone was accounted for. David startled, hitting the switch back and looking alarmed when it did not stop. Despite even Jan trying to warn him otherwise he continued to flip it back and forth, panicked when the situation didn’t change.

“Is this an actual fire, you think?” Nicole didn’t seem particularly concerned, standing up and gathering her belongings as she waited for the others to leave with her. Not knowing what to do with the artefact, David followed Jan’s lead and headed out without a second regard for it, leaving it on the desk as he left; he stopped for a moment to wait for Deborah and Joshua to follow before they all headed out the door, Jan grabbing the first aid kit on her way out, Joshua grabbing the extinguisher.

“Basically everything in the Institute’s paper,” Joshua pointed out as they exited. In their descent down the stairwell he had managed to find his way to the front, extinguisher in hand and at the ready for any flames that might stand between them and the exit. “I’m surprised this doesn’t happen more often, really. You would think the alarms would be more sensitive if everything in the Institute could be destroyed by a small spark."

The second floor was nearly emptied out by the time they had reached it, and the first floor seemed to be much the same. Behind him, someone made a comment about the fire not being real— they would have smelled smoke by now, wouldn’t they? Joshua was about to agree, but he paused as he took his first step onto the ground floor, stiffening up. With Deborah right behind him she nearly ran into his back but was able to stop herself on the last step, looking at Joshua in curiosity and concern.

“Everything okay?”

He murmured something that his coworkers couldn’t hear, and lifted a shaking finger to point to the ground. It took a sharp eye to catch what he was pointing to, white linoleum now appearing silvery and its difference only seen because it had been brought to their attention. It had not been the appearance, but rather the sickening crunch beneath his foot, that alerted Joshua that something was wrong; now that he was looking for whatever had caused the sound, he could see the way the ground shimmered with… movement. Hundreds of tiny, silver…

“Are those worms?” David asked, looking around from where Deborah attempted to usher them all back up the stairs. She tried to pull Joshua up with them, and David moved down a step to help side-by-side with her. From the back of the line Nicole paled, grabbing onto the nearest person— Jan, who bent oddly under her sudden grasp but stayed standing on the step— and looking torn between hiding behind her or making her way back up the stairs all the way to Storage.

To give her credit, Jan reacted rather quickly, demanding Nicole’s coat from her and making her way to the front of the group; she took Joshua’s extinguisher, handing it over to Deborah with instructions to see if she could scare the insects away, or at least crush them. With a strength that she did not look like she should possess she hauled Joshua up a few more steps, squatting down two steps beneath him to be at equal level with his now propped up leg; she opened the first aid kit, rolling up his trouser leg and using the jacket to clear off as many worms as possible from the surface.

“They’re burrowing into your skin.” She stated calmly, ignoring the way Nicole sat down on the top step, looking sick. With a set jaw Joshua looked at his own ankle, grimacing at the sight of a few worms making their way… into him. Jan rummaged around the first aid kit and scowled, looking up,

“We have to improvise. Anyone have something sharp?”

Deborah, who had been smashing away at worms, took off her purse and handed it to Jan. “Should have a knife in there somewhere.”

She nodded, looking through the bag and pulling out a pocketknife. Looking to David and Nicole, Jan’s face twisted into something that was a mixture of sympathy and urgency. “If you jump over the rest of the worms you should be able to head out, just keep an eye where you’re stepping. Tell the fire department we have someone injured in the stairwell if we’re not out in five minutes.”

“Should we… try to collect some of them?” Deborah asked, pausing with the extinguisher in the air. She had cleared enough that they should be able to get out without too much difficulty, except for Joshua, who hissed when the knife slid in, digging away into a worm with no warning. Jan was focused entirely on his ankle, tongue slightly out and bit, brows furrowed in concentration.

“Oh, you’re just going for it—“ Nicole commented, queasy as she passed and hurried down the stairs. David attempted to maneuver along with her, hopping over the worms.

“Deborah, we’re not going to keep some for Storage!” He argued, accepting the help as he stumbled after his jump off the stairs, getting balanced by the very woman he was yelling at. “What would we even feed it? Our flesh?”

“Are you two serious!?” Nicole cried out, following after David. Deborah sighed, leaving the extinguisher beside Jan and already looking to see if there was a better way out than the main entrance, something closer and less likely to be filled with worms. “There are more pressing things to consider right now!”

“Fine, fine, we’ll leave the mass of silver, unidentifiable worms alone, and lament the loss—“

“Deborah.”

“— such a valuable learning opportunity, down the drain—!“

“Deborah!” Joshua snapped from his seat on the staircase and the three of them quieted down, looking toward him. His teeth were gritted together and he had a white-knuckled grip on the stairway railing, trying to ignore the pain of Jan cutting into his skin to remove the last of the worms. “Go.”

The rest of the way out of the Institute, if taken a bit slower to watch their steps, was met with little interruption and even fewer worms. David and Deborah took deep breaths as they made it out, appreciating the fresh air. Nicole was just thankful to finally be out of the place, looking sick as she picked a curbside and sat down. The fire department and an accompanying white van were already parked in front, the former speaking to Elias and the latter moving in. Deborah headed away from the other two to wave one of the firefighters down, giving them directions on where to find Josh and Jan.

“Can we leave for the day, you think?” David asked Nicole, looking out at the street across from them and attempting to distract her from her nausea, “I think flesh-eating worms gives us a half-day off at least.”

“Knowing Bouchard, he’s probably gonna make us go back in there and clock out—“

“Unless in need of medical care,” they startled at the voice of Elias behind them, turning around; he looked slightly disheveled, and his attention seemed focused elsewhere despite his eyes resting on the two of them. “all staff are free to leave.”

“Right.” David nodded to himself, as if trying to make sense of the last hour. Elias looked toward him, an eyebrow raised as he continued, “It’s— there wasn’t actually a fire, was there? It was just for those worms?”

He seemed surprised by the mention of the worms and considered the question for a minute, as if weighing what should and shouldn’t be said; his eyes turned briefly back to Nicole and he decided on his answer, beginning with a sigh, “The Archives uncovered a contaminated area that… had not been cleaned for quite some time. Anyone in contact with any of the insects from the contamination needs to stay behind and likely be quarantined by the ECDC.”

Something grabbed his attention, “Ah, that should be them now.”

They watched him go, quiet for a moment before David voiced his… doubt? His complaint? “He really expects us to believe they’re, what, worms with rabies because of unsanitary conditions? How’d they even get up the stairs from the Archives?”

“That’s the story.” Nicole shrugged, standing. “There’s… always a cover story, I guess.”

“We should remind Josh to put a mark down for the Archives being weirder than us.”

She laughed, leaning a bit against David as the two of them walked from the Institute. “We finally less weird than them, you think?”

“Well, we haven’t found out what that lightswitch did. What if—“ he gasped suddenly, as if making a discovery, “What if the lightswitch summons worms? Oh, god, Nicole, what if the lightswitch summoned the worms?”

“I would destroy it.”

“But—“

“No hesitation. Maybe the whole Institute too, just to be safe.”

He looked to her, unable to tell if she was joking from her deadpan tone alone, and smiled when the upturn of her lips and the twinkle in her eye suggested she was just messing with him. David pulled away from where she leaned on him, smacking her arm lightly.

“Joshua would murder us!” He said in mock outrage, before putting on a face of thoughtful consideration, “If the worms didn’t get to him first, I guess.”

It was her turn to smack him back, not-as-light. “Don’t even kid about that.”

“You’re right, we would have to put in so much effort into taking his shrine down—“

“David.” Nothing in her tone or stance suggested she was joking anymore, and he turned to her once more, giving a firm nod.

“Right.” A pause, before he added, “Do you, er, want to go get a drink, maybe?”

“It’s four in the afternoon.” Not entirely a no, they both considered individually.

“We deserve it, don’t we?” He countered, considering that the entire situation outweighed the necessity for practicing social norms in regards to the proper time to get drinks and ignore life’s problems. At her continued hesitance he added, “We can invite Deborah and Jan, too.”

She seemed to be thinking about it, torn between wanting to go home and forget everything that happened while on her own time and dime, or joining others and spending time with those that could relate to the very incident she wanted to forget about. David elbowed her slightly as they got to her car, smiling, “I think it’s karaoke night.”

And she unlocked her car by button rather than manually, allowing both the driver and the passenger side to open. Nicole smiled, a small, tight-lipped thing, gesturing for David to go around to the other side and making eye contact with him from over the car as she responded. “That sounds… nice.”


End file.
